Nostalgia in a Box - A World Cup 2018 Direct Mail

  • Jonathan Messias

We wanted to show our contacts and clients the power of nostalgia; by giving them something personalised, which would take them back to a key summer moment in their life. We believed even the most ardent critic of World Cup football would have at least one shared memory of where they were and who they were with, during the iconic moments in their national sporting history. We would tap into that and make people happy for a moment.

We sent our clients a gift that whisked them away to remember their past. Based on their age and nationality, we identified the ‘signature World Cup’ for each client. For example, an Irish person between the ages of 30 and 40 is very likely to have fond memories of Italia ‘90. Even if the individual is not a huge football fan, we felt a significant World Cup for their nation will always be something talked about, that leaves an impact for that country, whether that’s France, New Zealand, USA, Cameroon, England or various.
The gift itself was a framed miniature jersey, designed to match the kit from their chosen World Cup. And because everyone has secretly dreamed of scoring that 90th-minute winner, we personalised it with their name on the back. Each individual pack (for 60 people from 21 countries) had carefully crafted copy, written around iconic tournament moments, and cultural events in that year/summer. The eight or nine lines of text, part prose/part poetry, would appeal to memories and national pride, with some reference to the tournament and salient insights from that time.
The packs were delivered to 60+ clients and new business contacts. We had video testimonials of people delighted with their DM pack and jersey. We were aiming for an emotional response when we sent these out, and one senior contact (for a highly significant client) was close to tears after receiving a shirt which acknowledged their nationality and their beloved team from 1990. For a business response, we generated a number of new conversations on the back of individuals receiving their personalised DMs and being impressed with the attention to detail.